Got someone visiting who doesn't know London? Where do you suggest to meet?
That's a question we recently asked on Twitter and Facebook. As we've already seen, the clock in Waterloo station is particularly famous as a rendezvous point, especially among those on romantic assignations (think Del Boy and Raquel). But where else do people like to meet?
We also asked if people remember any popular meeting spots that have since vanished. TopShop on Oxford Circus, the defunct Häagen-Dazs cafe in Leicester Square, Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus, and Virgin Records on Oxford Street were the top answers. We recall using all of them in the Noughties.
Anyhow, here are some of the best suggestions for common meeting points, past and present.
Meeting people at stations
"I used to use the Henry Moore sculpture outside King's Cross station. But it got removed 😞" - Erika C
"Opposite Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross. Our train to Potters Bar was always platform 9." - Chelsea W
"The bird cage at Kings Cross." - Fyeza S and Leah D
"By John Betjeman statue at St Pancras." - Diana W and Iain G
"The statute of a couple at St. Pancras Station." - Claire S
"The Kindertransport sculpture at Liverpool St. Station." - David L
"WHSmith at Victoria." - Frances R
"Lush at Victoria as we all come in from different areas of Sussex but deposited near Lush." - Sandie M
"South exit of Embankment tube (to get to South Bank over bridge)" - Jason S
"On remembrance Sunday it's the second entrance to st James park station to meet up with the veterans and old muckers." - Iain G
Meeting near prominent statues
"Beneath the Charles II statue in Soho Square." - Helen B
"Shakespeare's statue in Leicester Square." - Fiona H
"By 'the bloke in the chair' at Bank if I was meeting a mate for a pint round that way." - Stabilo (the bloke in the chair is George Peabody, round the back of the Royal Exchange)
"By Oscar Wilde." - Philip L (a bench-sculpture near St Martin's)
"My dipstick middle sister once made me meet her at the Oscar Wilde statue opposite Charing X - I reckon half of Kent had peed on it before catching the last train the night before. Still makes my eyes smart thinking about it." - Tanis S
"The Sherlock Statue at Baker Street." - Fiona H
"Eros, if I am meeting people visiting London as tourists." - Nick B and several others
"Anything on the Southbank, we use the Nelson Mandela statue on the side of Royal Festival Hall." - Miri L and Alison S
"Under the Catford Cat!" - Eva A
"By the sad lion statue in the British Museum Great Court." - Lucya S
"The Lion Statue at the end of Westminster Bridge." - Thomas L
Meeting at food and drink places
"I used the coffee shop at Waterstones Piccadilly for a while." - London Historians
"Always a book shop. If we're meeting in Soho I'll see you in the front bit of Foyles Charing Cross." - Tom E and Chuang S
"Upstairs at the Chandos." - Heather D
"At the wrong Blue Posts." - Tom M (there are five centrally, and many a meetup has been delayed thanks to one party getting things mixed-up).
"Punch and Judy Covent Garden, mainly because my colleagues and I were specifically told not to go there under any circumstances in the 90s." - Richard S and Lucy L
"Betjemans Arms, St Pancras. In the outside seating area platform side." - Alex B
"‘Beaker Vision’ AKA front window corner seat upstairs by door at Bradleys Spanish Bar." - Garry H
"The bar at Royal Festival Hall." - Elaine J
Lost places to meet, from days gone by
"The Häagen-Dazs cafe in Leicester Square in the late 90s... though I have absolutely no idea why. Never went in." - Matt Brown, author of this article, and several others
"Under Freddie Mercury at Tottenham Court Road was definitely one for a while." - Helen C, Gee, and Celia Coram. (The suggestion got numerous likes, indicating that it's a kind of magic meeting spot.)
"The Wimpy Bar opposite Centre Point in the 1970s." - Graham B
"The Rendezvous Cafe, Leicester Square. Long gone." - Malcolm H
"Sock Shop in Charing Cross station." - Natascha R
"Outside the old Tower Records in Piccadilly." - Christopher C and several others
"Burger king @ Piccadilly Circus London is no more." - Murtajiz J
"Outside the Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street." - Jason S and several others
"Used to be outside Topshop at Oxford Circus." - Thalia W and several others
And the rest
"By The left hand lion facing Whitehall in Trafalger Square (we used to call it Leo facing Portsmouth)." - Richard A
"The 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square." - Fiona H
"The statue of the goat near Spitalfields market is a good spot." - Estelle H
"Steps of St Paul's was my place to go." - Peter G
"By the clocks at Canary Wharf in front of the Jubilee line main entrance." - Richard B
"The shoe shop at Oxford Circus." - Purpleclaire
"Under the clock at Selfridges." - Jill D and Joy D
"Under the clock at the old Swiss Centre used to be a favourite..." - Scott H
"Hyde Park Corner although me and my provincial friends went to Speakers Corner." - Bertrum M
"The flower stand at Liberty." - Kate
"Cleopatra’s Needle is the ideal meeting point for school groups that I take to London." - Iris B
"Top of Argyle Street, by the kiosk." - Carin W
"It used to be outside the Hippodrome on Leicester Square. That spot was packed on a Saturday night with people waiting for friends to turn up." - Gareth T and several others
"Have often used The Golden Hinde (and the Caffè Nero next door) as a meeting point." - Ethan O
"Matalan, Oxford street." - Kobe A
"The ship in Hays Galleria." - Heather O
"Perfume section of Liberty." - Jayaram V
"Granary Sq. Or Golden Sq. Both great for BYO drinks in the sun pre gig or pre show." - Richard B
"The pointy sculpture at London Bridge, opp Barrowboy and Banker." - Jules T and Ryan G
"Middle of the Millennium Bridge." - Monica P
"St Martin in the fields. Outside the lift to the cafe." - Christine T
"By the site of Tyburn Tree." - Nicholas B (The Tyburn Tree was London's main gallows, near what is now Marble Arch. A rather grim meetup spot.)
